AuthorTopic: What you will find on this site. (Read 12972 times)

The AR Group is a group of organ enthusiasts who play the Yamaha AR Electone Organ ... specifically either the AR 80 or AR 100. This forum has sections such as General Discussion, Members' Section, AR Member Performances, Things you may not know about the AR, AR Series Technical and so on. A full list of sections and who can see them is given under the next heading.

Members can post topics, give hints on playing, and send in their performances to be enjoyed by other members. Our aim is to give encouragement to all those who play these instruments.

Boards everyone can see; Boards only Members can see

When you visit the AR Group FORUM the 'headings' in each section are called BOARDS. Not everyone can see all the boards and topics under discussion. Those that haven't Registered (and they can only Register by following the instructions in the Board “Registering in the AR Group FORUM” are not Members and are identified as Guests. When you put up a posting just be aware of who is able to view your posting, and don't include your personal details such as email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses into your posting unless you are prepared for the people viewing to have this information. The Administrators, Peter Anderson and myself (Hugh Wallington) will from time to time put our contact details into a posting. After all, we do want people to be able to contact us and we even have a Board, which everyone can see, entitled “Contact Details for AR Group” at the bottom of the list, so we can be contacted.

Below is a breakdown of who can see what:

Members can see all the Boards apart from a couple of 'Archives' that only the Administrators have access to eg. the Profiles of people who were once members but no longer are.

Non-Members (ie. Guests) can see only the following boards:

Who and what is the AR Group;Registering in the AR Group FORUM;About this FORUM;What I like about my AR / would change on my AR;AR played with extra sounds from other 'added' modules (MP3);Other Organs, Keyboards, Modules, Synths and Computer Music Software;General Interest;You Tube (or any Music/Videos you can play from the web) / Radio podcasts;Members' Performances on You Tube;Useful LINKS to other Websites;Organ Concerts;Jokes;For Sale;Contact Details for AR Group.

So please note: If you put a posting in General Interest it will be seen by everyone; if you put it in General Discussion it will only be seen by Members. So, if you ever wondered why there are two similar Boards, this is why. A posting in For Sale will be seen by everyone and anyone, but you need to put an email address/telephone number in your posting if you want them to contact you; they cannot get hold of any of your contact details any other way. Note that the Wanted board is only viewable by Members, so if you want something your 'audience' is a bit restricted.

It goes without saying that Administrators have access to everything, including email addresses (but not Members' Passwords).

What does a Yamaha Electone AR 80/100 sound like?

If you do not own an AR, but would like to hear what this organ sounds like, then click on some of the MP3 Tracks below. In order to get a real feel of the organ you would ideally have a 'sub woofer' attached to your sound system (to get those really rich bass notes coming through), or you can simply listen using headphones.

Listen to some of these tracks to get a feel of what the AR is capable of producing. You may have to click on 'Open' or 'Run' to play them .. or you can 'Save' the tracks to your hard disk to listen to later. If this option doesn't appear then do a 'right-click' over the LINK and choose Save Target As...

First, some 'church organ' pieces

No, these were not recorded in Westminster Abbey ... they were played by Mark Burbridge on an AR 80.

The next group of tracks are played by Paul Dolman on his AR100 who also composed them for the AR Group. I say 'composed' loosely, as Paul just sat at his organ and played whatever came into his head. He wouldn't have been able to repeat what he had just played!

Hope you have enjoyed Paul's 'relaxing style'. Paul certainly knew how to make some superb sounds with his AR 100.

Now another selection of 'voices' from the AR. A 'solo' orchestral violin with a 'string quartet', plus a harp accompaniment in the background. Surely the AR can't get better than this? Played on the AR 80.

If you are 'into' using backings, then here are some recordings I have done using STYLES .. ie. 'Backings' with an 'Automatic Bass'. These are not 'existing' in the AR that you select by just pressing a button, but USER Styles that I have done myself by creating/adjusting the 'Parts' you hear. And what is so exciting about the AR is that any STYLES or REGISTRATIONS that have been set up by someone else are first loaded into the organ before the piece starts playing; then when it has finished playing you can play that piece yourself using that unique Registration/Style .. or another piece you think would sound good using it. You will gather from this that the number of STYLES you can use is unlimited, and you are not just restricted to those choices that are available in the organ by 'pressing a button'.

When we say Yamaha AR Electone Organ I think we tend to forget that an 'organ', as well as being able to play eg. Church Organ, Theatre Organ, Jazz Organ, etc. can also be made to sound like a Pop Group, a Dance Band, or an Orchestra.

It seems to me that the AR, although getting on in years now, can hold its own when played by someone who knows how to set it up properly, and more importantly knows how to play a 'keyboard instrument' as it should be played. The AR really is a fantastic organ to listen to in the hands of someone who knows how to get the best out of it.

If you want to hear more and learn more, how about becoming a Member of AR Group. How can you do this? Look at the Board:

Do you want to sample what the Yamaha AR organs can achieve? Then this You Tube demonstrates some of the pre-set registrations to be found on the Yamaha AR80, which is the smaller version of the Yamaha AR100.